Nick Jonas: “I’ve Fought with the World’s Best Fighters”

Ever since the Jonas Brothers split, it’s been Nick who’s been most in the spotlight – with a recent UK number two single “Jealous” and a slew of acting projects including the thriller Careful What You Wish For. However, what’s most noticeable is the way he’s transformed his body from average boyband member to fitness cover model. That takes a lot of work, especially when juggling the demands of performing on stage and screen. So how does he do it?

How important is health and fitness to you?

It’s really important. I’m in a TV show in the US called Kingdom, where I play an MMA fighter, and it requires me to be on top of my fitness game. So it’s actually my job to stay on top of it, but I also enjoy it anyway.

What do you do, fitness-wise?

It’s really about what my schedule allows. For Kingdom, the biggest thing I had to adjust was eating. For the first season I had to put on about 15lb [7kg] of muscle, so I was eating a lot of calories every day, and I was in the gym all the time bulking up.

I also did full-on fight training with some of the best fighters in the world. It’s been amazing getting to work with some of these guys, because you see the level of commitment they have, and you hope you can have that as an actor, too. You want to be able to push yourself in that way, and it’s a beautiful thing to get to dive into your work like that.

Where does your fitness come from?

Being on stage is like a workout, although it depends on how hot the venue is! I’ve definitely started the tour at one weight and then ended up losing 7lb just from sweating on stage every night. The weight just drops off.

What do you do to motivate yourself?

I think about what I want to eat. If I do one more set, then I can go and eat that thing I wanna eat. I’m fully motivated by food. Especially pizza. I also definitely have a cheat day – I love pancakes. Ice cream too, can’t leave ice cream out…

What will you never do again?

The Jacob’s Ladder, a machine where you basically climb up a ladder continuously – that’s no fun, I’m not a fan of that. Also, I don’t like cardio in general, I definitely prefer straight weightlifting – doing a couple of different exercises combined, hitting different parts of the body.

How is your fitness fingerprint unique to you?

The best way to describe it is I do my best not to stress about it. I think it’s very easy when you dive into fitness to get to the point where if you’re not in the gym every single day and you’re not pushing yourself as hard as you can, it’s easy to get discouraged and down on yourself. I just do my best to stay confident and get it in when I can.

Nick Jonas’s new single, “Levels”, is out now

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